A journey around New Zealand’s meeting houses

A journey around New Zealand’s meeting houses

Liam Butler

Marae - Te Tatau Pounamu: A Journey Around New Zealand's Meeting Houses $80 RRP Random House NZ

This is not just the book of the year. It is a book generations of New Zealanders will revere as it is a magnificent documentation of - and tribute to - New Zealand's wharenui, big and small.

Along with Robin & Sam Bishop Muru Walters who wrote this book. Bishop Muru is a very well known Anglican minister. He is also a master carver, poet, broadcaster and former Maori All Black. His son Robin is a photographer and filmmaker who is director at Curious Films. Sam Walters, Robin's wife, is a photographer. Together the Walters spent three years visiting some of this country's major meeting houses as well as many of the more humble ones - houses that serve smaller hapu and iwi - to bring together a beautiful photographic book on the meeting house.

Question One

Robin you state that Te Rangita marae is an intimate and wonderful place to sleep in. Age Concern state that social isolation is the number one problem facing older people in Aotearoa. What makes Marae life so valuable for older people?

The marae is a place where the elderly are considered taonga (treasures). they are listened to, respected and even fussed over. my grandmother and great aunties love it on the marae where they are made to feel special. there is a strong feeling of community where you cook, eat, tell stories, laugh, sing, cry and sleep together.

Question two

The portrait of the great-grandson of Chief Te Hapuku from the Kahuranaki marae, Jerry Hapuku is captivating. How does it make you feel to be part of capturing part of our living history?

Proud and humbling. It never really felt like that at the time. It wasn't until we saw the book finished did we realise what we had done.

Question three

Inside Otaku marae's Wharenui has a memorial to those of the iwi who died in the Boer, First and Second World Wars. For older people who have never been on a marae but want to remember these hero's and visit such memorials how should they make contact with their local Marae?

All marae have a committee, you can find their contacts on line or in the phone book. otherwise just go see them and say kia ora.

A bit more about Marae Te Tatu Pounamu...

The Marae are intensively photographed, with detailed shots of their carvings, kowhaiwhai panels, tukutuku panels and much more. Many are photographed during an event, the images conveying a rich sense of life and activity.

From north to south, from the east coast to the west, and from ancient wharenui to bold new designs, this handsome book, with its engaging personal text, captures the huge variety of New Zealand's original architecture. It's a book for all New Zealanders to treasure.

About Rt. Reverend Bishop Muru Walters, MA, Dip Ed, LTh (Aot), Adv Dip Tchg, PGD (Arts), Pihopa o Te Upoko o te Ika. Muru Walters' life achievements remain far from ordinary and include being an exceptionally talented Maori All Black who was awarded the Tom French Cup in 1957, while simultaneously being an art teacher and an avid practitioner of the visual arts.

In the 1960s Muru (Te Rarawa and Te Aupouri) was responsible for developing a Maori arts curriculum for primary and secondary schools in Northland while studying carving under the tutelage of Pine Taiapa. Having always been an active member of the Anglican Church, today Muru is a Bishop and a revered and influential member of both the religious and Maori community nationwide.

Muru has been involved in the same creative work that influenced and inspired people like Syd Meads, Fred Graham, Ralph Hotere, Kath Mataira, Para Matchiit, Cliff Whiting, to name a few, to share their skills in diverse fields. His life is described y Ngahiraka Mason as a blessed binding together of people. 'If you asked Muru Walters he would say he considered that life was a continuum of redemption and transformation and that one must take heart and find the joy in the ordinariness of life.' (Ngahiraka Mason, Turuki Turuki Paneke Paneke, 2009).

About Robin Walters: Growing up in Dunedin, Robin Walters (Te Rarawa, Te Aupouri, Ngati Hine, Ngati Manu and Nga Puhi) was heavily engaged in the art world through his father. Robin pursued photography while at Otago Boys High School but did not perceive it as a way to earn a living until he arrived in London and found himself assisting some of Europe's most well known fashion photographers.

From there, Robin went on to becoming a photographer in his own right and followed the natural progression that led to cinematography. He is now one of Australasia's most renowned comedy film and commercial directors. With a host of awards to his name, Robin has a unique cinematic style that demonstrates not only his years of photographic experience but also a deep understanding of humanity and an ability to tell its stories with sensitivity and a distinctive appreciation of everyday beauty.

About Sam Walters: Sam was born and raised on the North Wales coast in the UK. She pursued and learnt the craft of photography as an assistant and studio manager to American photographer Robert Golden, who ran one of the busiest studios for advertising and editorial photography in London. Following a natural progression from this, Sam moved into film, producing TV commercials, short films and documentaries for the UK and Europe.

In the mid-nineties, Sam moved to New Zealand where, alongside film production work, she continued to pursue her photography before enrolling in a formal study of the arts at AUT University, where she gained a Bachelor of Visual Arts in 2002. After graduating she went on to tutor sculpture and photography for MIT on their Dip. Visual in Arts course at Rutherford.

Sam's work has been a finalist in the Waikato National Contemporary Art awards and she frequently exhibits at galleries around Auckland.

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